Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore
General
Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore
Folklore -- Russia
Then the Prince remembered about his wife. He jumped
up from table, caught her by her white hands, and seated her
close by his side. From that time forward they lived together
in all happiness and prosperity.
[With this story may be compared a multitude of tales
in very many languages. In German for instance, "Der
König vom goldenen Berg," (Grimm, _KM._ No. 92. See
also Nos. 51, 56, 113, 181, and the opening of No.
31), "Der Königssohn und die Teufelstochter,"
(Haltrich, No. 26), and "Grünus Kravalle" (Wolf's
"Deutsche Hausmärchen," No. 29)--the Norse
"Mastermaid," (Asbjörnsen and Moe, No. 46, Dasent, No.
11) and "The Three Princesses of Whiteland," (A. and
M. No. 9, Dasent, No. 26)--the Lithuanian story
(Schleicher, No. 26, p. 75) in which a "field-devil"
exacts from a farmer the promise of a child--the
Wallachian stories (Schott, Nos. 2 and 15) in which a
devil obtains a like promise from a woodcutter and a
fisherman--the Modern Greek (Hahn, Nos. 4, 5, 54, and
68) in which a child is promised to a Dervish, a
_Drakos_, the Devil, and a Demon--and the Gaelic tales
of "The Battle of the Birds" and "The Sea-maiden,"
(Campbell, Nos. 2 and 4) in the former of which the
child is promised to a Giant, in the latter to a
Mermaid. The likeness between the Russian story and
the "Battle of the Birds" is very striking. References
to a great many other similar tales will be found in
Grimm (_KM._ iii. pp. 96-7, and 168-9). The group to
which all these stories belong is linked with a set of
tales about a father who apprentices his son to a
wizard, sometimes to the Devil, from whom the youth
escapes with great difficulty. The principal Russian
representative of the second set is called "Eerie
Art," "Khitraya Nauka," (Afanasief, v. No. 22, vi. No.
45, viii. p. 339).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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